Best Asian Food in Abbotsford 2026: Vietnamese, Thai & More

Updated 16 March 2026 | 6 places tested | Yuki Tanaka reporting

Abbotsford doesn’t shout about its Asian food scene the way some suburbs do. There’s no neon-lit strip flogging pad thai to tourists, no Instagram-famous banh mi stand with a queue around the block. What Abbotsford does have is a quietly fierce collection of Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean spots that locals guard jealously and visitors stumble upon by accident.

This guide covers the Asian restaurants actually worth your time and money in Abbotsford and its immediate borders — the stretch where Victoria Street bleeds from Richmond into Abbotsford, the Smith Street corridor into Collingwood, and the Hoddle Street corner where the Thai restaurants cluster like they’re having a quiet conspiracy.

We ate at every place on this list. Some meals were excellent. Some were fine. One was a disappointment we’ll flag honestly. Here’s what we found.

🗳️ QUICK POLL: What’s your go-to Asian cuisine in Melbourne?

🔵 Vietnamese (pho is life) 🟢 Thai (curry or nothing) 🔴 Korean (BBQ supremacy) 🟡 Japanese (sushi & ramen) 🟣 Chinese (dumplings or bust)

Cast your vote — we publish results monthly.

1. Jinda Thai Restaurant — The One Everyone Tells You About

Address: 1-7 Ferguson Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Traditional Thai Price range: $15–$28 mains Hours: Mon–Sun 11:30am–10pm

Jinda Thai is the restaurant that ruins other Thai food for you. Tucked down Ferguson Street near the railway line — the kind of side street you’d walk past without noticing — it’s been running since 2013 and has built a cult following that packs the room every night of the week.

The jungle curry is the headliner. It arrives roaring with heat, loaded with chicken, bamboo shoots, and green beans swimming in a broth that has more layers than most people’s Spotify playlists. The soft shell crab is another standout — crispy, salty, with a sweet chilli dipping sauce that you’ll want to smuggle home in your bag. Their boat noodles, smaller in portion but enormous in flavour, are the kind of thing you order “as a starter” and then immediately order again as your main.

The room is small, tight, and loud. No reservations for groups under four. If you turn up at 7pm on a Friday without booking, expect to wait. This is not a complaint — it’s a data point for planning.

THE MOVE: Go on a weeknight. Order the jungle curry, soft shell crab, and a bowl of boat noodles between two. Add a Thai iced tea. You’ll walk out full and $40 lighter per person. That’s the Jinda math, and it’s flawless.

🔥 URGENCY BANNER Jinda Thai does not take bookings for small groups. Friday and Saturday nights regularly see 45+ minute waits by 7pm. If you’re planning a weekend visit, arrive before 6:15pm or eat at 8:30pm+. Midweek is always easier.

2. Ying Thai (Thaiger Rabbit) — The OG Victoria Street Thai

Address: 235 Victoria Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 (original) Also at: 391 Victoria Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 (Thaiger Rabbit) Cuisine: Thai Price range: $13–$24 mains Hours: 12pm–10pm daily

Ying Thai has been on Victoria Street since the mid-2000s and claims the title of the first authentic Thai restaurant on this strip — a bold call on a street with this much competition. The original at 235 Victoria Street is the no-frills version: plastic chairs, fast service, and food that punches well above the price tag. The Thaiger Rabbit expansion at 391 Victoria is slightly more polished but the menu DNA is the same.

The pad see ew here is what keeps regulars coming back. Wide rice noodles wok-tossed with Chinese broccoli, egg, and your choice of protein — the char on the noodles tells you the wok is hot enough and the cook knows what they’re doing. Their tom yum soup is properly sour and properly spicy, which sounds obvious until you’ve had the watered-down versions that lesser places serve and call “authentic.”

It’s not fancy. The decor won’t end up on anyone’s Pinterest board. But at $14 for a plate of food this good, sitting on Victoria Street watching the world go by, you’ll understand why this strip has been Melbourne’s Asian food corridor for decades.

👍 REACTION BAR 🍛 Love Thai food in Abbotsford? Share this with someone who needs to know about Jinda and Ying Thai → Share 💬 Been to either? Tell us your order in the comments.

3. Seoul Soul — Korean BBQ With Actual Personality

Address: 323 Victoria Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Korean (BBQ, street food, share plates) Price range: $16–$35 mains, BBQ sets $45–$65 per person Hours: Tue–Sun 5:30pm–10pm

Seoul Soul is the curveball on Victoria Street. While most of the strip runs Vietnamese and Thai, this spot planted a Korean flag in 2017 and hasn’t looked back. The owner is a former architect, and it shows — the fitout is all recycled timber, exposed concrete, personal bag hooks under the tables (a small touch that says “we actually thought about the dining experience”), and an open kitchen where you can watch the grill action.

The Korean BBQ sets are the main event. You get a tabletop grill, your choice of marinated meats — the bulgogi and galbi are the safest bets — and a parade of banchan (side dishes) that keeps your table moving between courses. The kimchi pancake ($6) is a steal and the ideal starter while you wait for the grill to heat up. Bibimbap comes in a hot stone bowl that crisps the rice at the bottom into golden shards, which is the entire point of bibimbap and something many Melbourne Korean restaurants get wrong.

Bookings at the Abbotsford location are only available at 6pm or 8pm sittings due to limited space. If neither works, walk in and hope for the best — they do hold some tables for walk-ins.

Price reality check: A couple doing BBQ sets with a beer each will run about $120–$140. That’s not cheap for Victoria Street, but it’s significantly less than Korean BBQ in the CBD where you’d pay $80 per head for comparable quality.

4. Oneyada Thai Cafe — Breakfast Thai, Because Why Not

Address: 239 Victoria Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Thai (breakfast and lunch focus) Price range: $12–$18 plates Hours: Tue–Sun 8am–3pm

Oneyada is the breakfast arm of the Jinda Thai family, which immediately gives it credibility. While Jinda does dinner, Oneyada owns the morning shift — and it’s one of the only places in inner Melbourne where you can get a proper Thai breakfast without it being a novelty or a gimmick.

The rice porridge (jok) is the play here. It comes with minced pork, a soft egg, ginger, and a pile of fresh coriander that you pile on until the bowl can’t hold any more. There’s also Thai-style omelettes, green curry with rice (yes, for breakfast — this is not a drill), and strong Thai-style coffee that will sort out a rough morning.

The room is small and the vibe is casual — think cafe meets your Thai grandmother’s kitchen. It sits right next to the Talad Thai supermarket, which is worth a browse after your meal for imported ingredients, frozen Thai desserts, and bags of chillies that you’ll buy with the best of intentions and then leave in the back of the fridge.

Oneyada fills a gap that most people don’t even know exists: proper, affordable Thai food before noon. If you’re in Abbotsford on a weekend morning and don’t want another smashed avo, this is the move.

5. Pho Hung Vuong 2 — The Pho You Cross Suburb Borders For

Address: 108 Victoria Street, Richmond VIC 3121 Cuisine: Vietnamese (pho specialist) Price range: $12–$18 bowls Hours: 9am–9:30pm daily

Technically in Richmond, but literally on the Abbotsford border — we’re counting it because the line between the two suburbs on Victoria Street is invisible and this place deserves inclusion. Pho Hung Vuong 2 is one of the original pho houses on this strip, part of a family name that also operates the acclaimed original in Footscray. That pedigree matters — the broth here simmers for hours and has the depth and clarity that separates serious pho from the quick-cook versions.

The rare beef pho (pho tai) is the benchmark. Thinly sliced raw beef that cooks in the boiling broth at your table, piled on top of rice noodles with bean sprouts, Thai basil, lemon, and chilli. The broth is clean, aromatic, and leaves a gentle star anise warmth that lingers. Large bowls are $15, which is extraordinary value for something this labour-intensive.

They also do bun bo hue (spicy beef noodle soup from Hue), broken rice dishes, and Vietnamese iced coffee that’s strong enough to fix your posture. It’s not a destination restaurant in the “get dressed up” sense — it’s a destination in the “this is where the best pho on this side of Melbourne lives” sense.

Cross-border tip: If you’re exploring Victoria Street’s Asian food from the Abbotsford end, Pho Hung Vuong 2 is about a 10-minute walk east along the same street. Pair it with Seoul Soul or Ying Thai for a progressive Asian dinner crawl that covers three cuisines in one evening. Your Uber driver will be confused but your stomach will thank you.

📍 MELBZ CROSS-LINK: Planning a Victoria Street food crawl? Check our Richmond suburb guide for the full strip breakdown, plus our Collingwood food map for what’s happening on Smith Street when you’re done. If you’re coming from the west, our Footscray Asian food guide covers the Vietnamese scene on Hopkins Street that rivals anything on Victoria Street.

6. Tonkin Restaurant — Vietnamese Done Right on Smith Street

Address: 346 Smith Street, Collingwood VIC 3066 Cuisine: Vietnamese Price range: $13–$22 mains Hours: 12pm–3pm, 5pm–10pm daily

Tonkin sits on Smith Street in Collingwood, a five-minute walk from the Abbotsford border, and serves Vietnamese food with a focus on central Vietnamese flavours — hence the name. It’s smaller and more intimate than many of the pho houses on Victoria Street, with a short, focused menu that doesn’t try to do everything.

The pho here is excellent — rich broth, properly portioned, with quality beef that doesn’t turn grey and chewy. But the real reason to come is the bun cha and the banh xeo (crispy Vietnamese crepe). The banh xeo arrives golden and crackling, stuffed with pork, prawns, and bean sprouts. You wrap pieces in lettuce leaves with herbs and dip in nuoc cham — it’s interactive eating at its best and the kind of dish that makes you forget you’re on a quiet Collingwood street and not in Hanoi.

The price point is fair, the service is fast, and the location on Smith Street means you can combine it with a browse through the vintage shops and galleries that line the rest of the strip. It’s the kind of place that doesn’t need a marketing budget — word of mouth does the work.

🗳️ VOTE: Which Abbotsford Asian spot should we review next?

We’re planning our next round of reviews. Tell us which Abbotsford (or nearby) Asian restaurant we should test:

🔵 Tomtoon Thai Noodle Cafe 🟢 Vi’em Cafe 🔴 iSpicy 🟡 Madame Saigon

Results determine our next review. This is your suburb — you decide.

What We Skipped and Why

Not everything makes the cut. Here’s what we considered and why it’s not in our top six:

Tomtoon Thai Noodle Cafe — On the same Hoddle Street corner strip as Oneyada and near Jinda. It’s solid Isaan food and has its fans, but on our visit the noodles were under-seasoned and the room felt tired compared to what Jinda and Ying Thai deliver. Worth a try if you’re in the area and Jinda has a 40-minute wait, but not a first-choice pick.

Rice Paper Scissors — A Melbourne institution with locations in Fitzroy and the CBD, frequently recommended for Abbotsford-area dining. But it’s not in Abbotsford, it’s a Southeast Asian fusion share-plate concept rather than traditional Asian food, and at $25–$35 per plate it sits at a different price point than the neighbourhood spots. Great restaurant — wrong list.

Vi’em Cafe — A Vietnamese cafe on the Abbotsford side of Victoria Street that’s been mentioned in various food forums. We couldn’t confirm current trading hours at time of publication, which is an automatic flag for us. We don’t recommend places we can’t verify are still operating.

Pho Chu The (270 Victoria Street, Richmond) — Another legendary pho house on the strip. It didn’t make this particular list not because it’s bad — it’s very good — but because Pho Hung Vuong 2 edged it on broth depth during our side-by-side tasting. We’ll cover Chu The in a dedicated pho showdown piece.

The Price Play

One of the best things about Abbotsford’s Asian food scene is the value. Here’s what a full meal for two looks like at each spot:

The floor is Oneyada at $30 for two (Thai breakfast and coffee). The ceiling is Seoul Soul at $140 for a full BBQ dinner with beer. Both are worth it for different reasons.

How Abbotsford Compares

Abbotsford sits in an interesting position. It’s not the Vietnamese heavyweight — that’s Footscray, where Hopkins Street and surrounding laneways offer some of Melbourne’s most authentic pho, bun, and banh mi at prices that Abbotsford can’t match. It’s not the Thai capital either — that crown arguably sits with the clustered strips in Richmond and Collingwood where competition drives quality even higher.

What Abbotsford does offer is convenience and concentration. The Victoria Street end near Hoddle Street packs Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean into a walkable stretch where you can eat at three different Asian restaurants in a single evening without moving your car. Add the proximity to Abbotsford Convent, the Yarra River trails, and the train station, and you’ve got the ingredients for a full day-and-night out that doesn’t require going anywhere else in Melbourne.

If you’re comparing suburbs for an Asian food crawl, the inner north-east corridor — Abbotsford through Richmond to Collingwood — is probably the highest-density stretch of quality Asian dining in Melbourne. Each suburb adds something different. Abbotsford brings the Thai heavyweights. Richmond brings the pho. Collingwood brings the Vietnamese restaurants that have gone slightly upmarket without losing the soul.

The Open Loop

This article covers the best Asian food in Abbotsford — but Abbotsford is only one stop on the inner-east Asian food trail. If you want the full picture of what Melbourne’s inner north-east does best, our Richmond Asian food guide covers the rest of Victoria Street, including the pho houses, the Chinese restaurants, and the late-night banh mi spots that feed Richmond’s post-pub crowd.

And if you’re coming from the west side, our Footscray food guide covers the Vietnamese corridor that many locals argue is Melbourne’s best. We settle the debate in that piece — or at least, we try.

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Yuki Tanaka is the Asian Food Editor at MELBZ. She has eaten at every restaurant on Victoria Street at least twice, has a favourite pho spot she won’t name (it’s Pho Hung Vuong 2 — don’t tell the others), and believes Melbourne’s Thai food scene is criminally underrated internationally. She writes from Abbotsford and has strong opinions about wok hei.